Crash Log

[CrashDodson]

This is my attempt at a diary.

I have been shooting competivley off and on for about 3 years. I have finally decided to take this more serious and have commited the time and money to advancing my skills and performance. I shoot local IDPA and 3 gun matches and have just recently found semi-local uspsa matches. I am currently classified SharpShooter in IDPA, my best showing to date is a 3rd in class at a Tier 3 match. I dont currently have plans to take my 3 gun shooting to bigger matches I just have fun shooting with the local guys. I shoot top 10 overall in the local 3 gun.

I currently have only shot 2 USPSA classifiers so I am still unclassified as of now. This last weekend I had the fastest time out of all shooters but I nicked a no shoot target on the classifier so well see how that plays out.

My goal is to be classified as master in IDPA by the end of 2016 (will see how the new rules pan out). My goal for USPSA is A class.

I recently picked up a Dillon and have been loading 40 for my USPSA limited gun. I currently shoot an Dawson XDM 5.25 in IDPA but I am having a custom 2011 built in 9 I will use for IDPA and 3 gun. I am hoping having similar guns in idpa/uspsa will aid in my training.

My plan is to dry fire 4-5 days a week and live fire or match once a week.

I currently find myself lost at the range on my live fire days. I am working to put together and actual training program. Any tips/comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[CrashDodson]

on 11/7/15 I shot a local USPSA match. I was shooting limited major. I ended up 8th overall out of 25 and 4th in Limited.

There were 4 stages plus a classifer. I had one mike on three stages and 2 on another. This is the first time I have experianced this. The mike was around my reload. I believe I missed the shot prior to the reload, I was likley pulling off target too soon trying to get the reload done. I dont know how to resolve this other than practice this same or similar scenarios in live fire.

The classifer stage was 3 targets at equal distance with a no shoot in front of each positionied differently. Stage start was facing uprange, hands at surrender. Turn engage each with 2 reload and again with 2. My time was 6.9 seconds, which was the fastest time of the day but I nicked a no shoot.

First Place Limited

Time: 89.8 Num: A 69 B 1 C 33 D 1 Pens: M 0 NPM 0 NS 0

Me:

Time: 83.95 (5.85) Num: A 67 (2) B 5 (4) C 23 (10) D 3 (2) Pens:

M 6 (6) NPM 0 (0) NS 2 (2)

The mikes and no shoots killed me.

[CrashDodson]

11/8/15

Going through the stoeger dry fire book up until the 25 yard simulated accuracy drills. I find I am on with his par times recommended in the book. I am achieving a sub 1 second draw with good sight picture. It took me a while but I achieved his recommended par times for reloading. This was using my XDM since I have an IDPA match this next weekend.

My limited gun has a **thumb rest [generic]** (unsure why its changing G @ s P e d a l" to "thumb rest generic") and an oversized saftey. This puts my thumbs higher on the gun. I notice after shooting my limited gun and then switching back to my XDM I am placing my support hand thumb up higher and touching the slide. I am hoping my new IDPA gun will aid with this problem since it will be more closley related to my limited gun.

Edited November 9, 2015 by CrashDodson

[CrashDodson]

11/10/15

Worked on first few marksmanship drills in the stoeger dry fire book for about 15 minutes then my shotmaxx started acting up. Battery was dead.

Setup the Hopkins drill and worked on that for about 20 minutes. Found this drill to be fun for something new. The wife didn't even question the dots on the wall in the bedroom but said targets are taking over every wall in the house.

I have signed up for the Stoeger fundamentals course in February with KR training in the Austin area. Considering taking the skills and drills course in April. I have noticed I can see the red fiber on my XDM front site a lot better than the green on my limited gun. Going to switch out the green for red.

[CrashDodson]

11/10/15

Did not have much time last night due to my sons 4H shooting club meeting. Ran though the hopkins drill for about 15 minutes. Discussion with trainer about signing up for stoeger skills and drills course in April.

Signed up for Range Log

Edited November 11, 2015 by CrashDodson

[CrashDodson]

11/11/15

Went through the USPSA core dryfire drills finished with the hopkins drill

11/12/15

went through the basic movement drills finished with the hopkins drill.

Loca IDPA match this weekend.

[CrashDodson]

11/13/15

Went through markenship dryfire drills and hopkins

11/14/15

Took second place overall at the IDPA match. Lost a bunch of points on one stage because of missed headshots. Evidently was not watching my sights.

11/16/15

USPSA core dry fire drills. Worked on practicing quad loads with the shotgun.

11/17/15

Had to work late. Briefly worked on quad loads

I noticed in the IDPA match that things just happened. For lack of a better explanation. There was little thought on my part, just execution. The mag release button on my XDM is stiffer then usual and I have found myself in dryfire having to really press to drop the mag. On one stage I did the same thing not realizing the mag had already dropped free. Lost 1/2 a second at least during that mistake. With the exception of the missed headshots I had a good day. If I had not had missed those headshots I would have won the day by at least 10 seconds. My dryfire practice is improving my performance.

Edited November 18, 2015 by CrashDodson

[CrashDodson]

11/18/15 - no practice....got an earfull from the wife about how much time im spending on shooting. Maybe time to trade her in. LOL

11/19/15 - USPSA core dry fire with the limited gun im going to shoot at this weekends 3 gun. Practice quad loads on the shot gun....not super fast but not dropping shells anymore.

There is one USPSA core drill in Bens book. Shoot 3 targets with 2 rounds each. Reload. repeat...reload repeat. In 5 second par time. I just cant do it. Im hitting a 6-7 second time on this drill. I also cant do the El presidente drill in 3.5 seconds which is the recommended par time. im more at 4.5 -5 seconds on that drill.

[CrashDodson]

Been busy with Holiday stuff. on 11/25/15 I did some range time with friends. Mostly helping them. I ran a few bill drills and a few el prez.

11/24/15 Little bit of dry fire working on draw with new double alpha rig.

[CrashDodson]

12/1/15 Worked on dryfire for about 45 minutes. Going over the fundamentals in the first section of the dry fire book. Finished with Hopkins drills.

[CrashDodson]

12/29 Been busy with the holidays. Did some dryfire with my son working on target transitions and targets with no-shoots over them. Finished with Hopkins drill

12/30 Ran through hopkins drill before bed.

[CrashDodson]

2/2/16 - got out to the range with my son for about an hour and a half. Worked on the Dot drill and was only able to get 4-5 of the 6 shots in a dot in the 5 second par time. Really confused on how to correct this or what this means. Worked with my son on the El Prez drill. Went though about 100 rounds myself between the two drills.

Tested a new 9mm minor load.

[CrashDodson]

2/4 ran through the stoeger marksmanship dry fire drills about 30 minutes

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[CrashDodson]

I have my dates wrong on the two above...wont let me edit for some reason

1/2/16 - got out to the range with my son for about an hour and a half. Worked on the Dot drill and was only able to get 4-5 of the 6 shots in a dot in the 5 second par time. Really confused on how to correct this or what this means. Worked with my son on the El Prez drill. Went though about 100 rounds myself between the two drills.

1/4 ran through the stoeger marksmanship dry fire drills about 30 minutes

1/5 USPSA core drills 60 minutes

1/6 Field course drills 60 minutes. My wife said I was obsessed after I started building a port in the living room. Shooting from ports and barricades carries over from IDPA pretty well.

1/7 Went to the range at lunch. Tested some 9mm loads at 3.0 and 3.2 grains for my XDM. Pretty sure I can get away with 2.8 grains and make 125pf. Shot my limited gun in the berm trying to learn to track my sights. It just still isnt coming together for me yet. Ran through the dot torture drill at 7 yards. Had some low low/left shots which are signs of flinching. I must be flinching and blinking which is part of my shot calling problems. I am not sure how to work through it yet. I am thinking doubling up on my hearing pro might help with the flinch a little. I am going to shoot some bill drills and see if I am getting low lefts on them, I think my *thumb rest [generic]* on my limited gun may be the problem during rapid fire. I might be pushing the gun down. When shooting weak hand my shots were low right, which would show flinching/trigger control with my weak hand. I have no noticeable trouble with my weak hand dry fire. Evidently I am just a big puss and scared of my gun that I have shot thousands of times.

Edited January 8, 2016 by CrashDodson

[CZinZA]

I think a genuine flinch - being scared of the bang and jerking the gun before ignition - is rare in a regular shooter

But poor trigger control, especially as you go faster, is very common.

Try focus your thought on your trigger finger while training and see if it helps. Sometimes just paying attention to a good trigger pull makes all the difference

Sent by Jedi mind control

[NickBlasta]

Doubt a flinch, lots of people tend to tug off the target with WHO because it's so easy to pull the sights down just with a trigger pull. It's easy to see in dryfire, do WHO and see how much the sights pull when you slap the trigger. Focusing on the press and maybe gripping down a little harder will help.

[CrashDodson]

1/7 Marksmanship dry fire for 30 minutes.

1/8 Setup for IDPA match in the morning

[CrashDodson]

Doubt a flinch, lots of people tend to tug off the target with WHO because it's so easy to pull the sights down just with a trigger pull. It's easy to see in dryfire, do WHO and see how much the sights pull when you slap the trigger. Focusing on the press and maybe gripping down a little harder will help.

I am not sure what you mean by "WHO"...When I dry fire I dont see my sights dip or move...but it seems my dry fire doesnt equate exactly to the same performance in live fire. It is helping though, without a doubt. At my match in the morning I will try to focus on my trigger and try my best to see my sights. I am going to try to double plug if I can get away with it. I am ROing and I need to be able to hear. Might just double up when Im shooting.

[NickBlasta]

Doubt a flinch, lots of people tend to tug off the target with WHO because it's so easy to pull the sights down just with a trigger pull. It's easy to see in dryfire, do WHO and see how much the sights pull when you slap the trigger. Focusing on the press and maybe gripping down a little harder will help.

I am not sure what you mean by "WHO"...When I dry fire I dont see my sights dip or move...but it seems my dry fire doesnt equate exactly to the same performance in live fire. It is helping though, without a doubt. At my match in the morning I will try to focus on my trigger and try my best to see my sights. I am going to try to double plug if I can get away with it. I am ROing and I need to be able to hear. Might just double up when Im shooting.

Weak hand only. Are you doing timed weak hand drills in your dryfire? You might be pulling the trigger more aggressively than you think when you're under match pressure.

[CrashDodson]

I am doing weak hand drills, but it seems with bullets in the gun I am pulling the trigger a little different.

I shot a local IDPA match this morning. I got 2nd overall even with two misses. There was standards stage, similar to the classifier. Shoot 6 targets with 1 round each from one side of a wall, retention reload and then do it again from the other side. After that another retention reload moving up to a barrel and shooting the 6 again headshots only kneeling behind the barrel. I missed two of the headshots and was obviously not calling my shots.

While RO'ing the match I made sure to watch my shooters guns close. I could see the brass ejecting and could see mussel flashes, so I wasn't blinking then. Something definitely happens when I am shooting where I dont see either of those things. I dont know if maybe I have more of a target focus and that's why I am having trouble calling my shots. I'm decently accurate and fast enough to win local matches but still not seeing my shots. When the buzzer goes off I am in auto pilot and dont remember much of anything until the gun is back in the holster.

[CrashDodson]

1/11/16 - Worked on the 15 minute dry fire program I found in the forums. I normally run through a section of the stoeger drills but thought I would give this a shot. It was fun and a nice to change things up a bit. As I would shoot I would call my shots out loud as I saw them.

1/12/16 - Went to the range at lunch today and went through 60 rounds of 40 and about 100 rounds of 9. I was really trying to watch the sights and call the shots. I worked on a drill that Cha-lee recommended were I alter the sight picture to get an idea of what actually happens when the sights are misaligned. I did this standing as I had no way to try this from bench wrest. I learned that left to right the shot does not vary as much as up and down. I could move the fiber to the left or right of the rear notches and still get an A zone hit at around 7 yards. If I was aiming at the center of the head zone and moved the fiber up so it was split between the tops of the rear post would put the round at very top or out of the scoring zone. If I put the fiber at the bottom of the rear notches it would drop the shot into the upper C zone. It is apparently more important to have the vertical alignment solid when breaking the shot than the left to right alignment.

I did some group shots at a distance of 70 feed with decent results. I did learn that closing my left eye resulted in tightening up the grouping. When trying to focus on the front sight the target tends to double, especially when I am really focusing hard on the front site. Closing my left eye fixes this and allows me to align the sights quicker for accurate shots. Not sure if taping my left eye is something I should consider.

70 foot group shots

Edited January 12, 2016 by CrashDodson

[CrashDodson]

I am trying out putting tape over my non dominate eye and have found I can see the front sight SO MUCH better. It is clear with no double targets. I think this is going to be a big deal for me. I know some might consider it a band aid but I think I may have some vision trouble that i cant train my way out of. I have astigmatism and I am not sure if that's part of my problem. I have not been able to call my shots because I could not see the damn sights. I was more looking through the sights with somewhere between target and sight focus.

This is the first change I have made where I can "see" an instant improvement for myself. I have only been dry firing with it for two days now. Going to try to get to the range on Friday, test out my tape and a new recoil spring for my 40.

1/13/16 - Running through part B of the 15 minute dry fire program for about an hour. Fixed my mag release on my AR and did some practice on quad loads for 3 gun this weekend.

I have noticed that using the tape it takes a fraction of a second longer to acquire my sight picture on the draw, after, transitions and multiple shots are fine. I am guessing this is due to the change and it will come with practice. Even if my sight picture takes half a second longer being able to see the sights will out weigh that for me.

I also think I have been using my front fiber as more of a red dot then how it should be used. I think that is why a lot of my shots, especially at distance are high. I have not been able to see the front sights clearly and I have been pointing the dot and shooting. I hope to prove this on Friday.

Edited January 14, 2016 by CrashDodson

[FTDMFR]

Tape on my shooting glasses was a complete game changer.

[CrashDodson]

Tape on my shooting glasses was a complete game changer.

Ive only shot dry fire so far with it. I have 3 gun in the morning with some big pistol stages so we will see how it goes.

[CrashDodson]

1/14/16 Ran through the last setup "D" in the 15 minute dry fire program with my son. Also worked extra on reloads and focusing on getting a solid sight picture while adjusting to the tape over my non dominate eye.

1/15/16 Setup for 3 gun. Cleaned guns and made 200 rounds of 40 minor. Sighted in my AR at the range with 63g soft points. They seem to shoot decent but I am running out and will be back to 55g soon and will have to sight it in again. I purchased a vortex strike eagle 1-6 to replace my burris mtac 1-4. Its in the same price range but a little more zoom. I should have it next week.